Progressing toward Inclusion? Exploring the State of Religious Diversity

Abstract

Although the social work profession has a proud tradition of celebrating diversity and inclusion, these topics remain contentious professional issues. Religious discrimination in social work has been an issue of controversy for at least a decade, as evidenced by an exchange between Amato-von Hemert (1994) and Clark (1994). In a manner analogous to gender and race in former eras, Amato-von Hemert argued that religious perspectives are largely omitted from professional discourse, fueling the adoption of prejudicial attitudes toward religious populations. In response, Clark stated that Amato-von Hemert had assumed--not proven--discrimination and called for research to ascertain the existence of discrimination in social work forums. Given Clark's (1994) call for research, this article explores perceptions of religious discrimination in social work educational programs. Social work education, in particular, plays a foundational socializing role. The educational milieu fosters the adoption of attitudes that tend to shape future social workers' thoughts and actions throughout their careers (Cnaan, Wineburg, & Boddie, 1999). Consequently, it is critical that research identify potentially discriminatory patterns in the educational process. LITERATURE REVIEW In examinations of discrimination, social work theory on oppression has emphasized the importance of exploring systemic power relationships between competing worldviews or value systems (Wambach & Van Soest, 1997). A difference in worldviews, in tandem with a power differential, tends to foster a milieu in which discrimination occurs. Values congruent with the majority worldview tend to be selected, framed positively, and normalized (Kuhn, 1970). Conversely, values consistent with minority worldviews tend to be overlooked, depicted negatively, or even pathologized, particularly in instances in which value conflicts occur. Amato-von Hemert (1994) suggested that a difference in worldviews exists between the religious worldviews affirmed by members of various faith traditions and the secular, Enlightenment-based worldviews that tend to inform discourse in the helping professions (Smith, 2003). In keeping with this understanding, studies have indicated that religious perspectives are largely ignored in some journals and textbooks in the fields of gerontology (Sherrill, Larson, & Greenwold, 1993), psychology (Lehr & Spilka, 1989; Weaver et al., 1998a),psychiatry (Weaver et al., 1998b), medicine (Potter, 1993), marriage and family therapy (Glenn, 1997; Kelly, 1992), and social work (Cnaan et al., 1999; Hodge, 2002). Similarly, social work practitioners and students have reported receiving little or no content on religion and spirituality during their graduate educations (Canda & Furman, 1999; Furman, Canda, & Benson, 2001 ; Murdock, 2004; Sheridan & Amato-von Hemert, 1999). Consequently, it seems reasonable to posit that adherents of various faith traditions might experience the lack of attention given to religious perspectives as discriminatory. As Amato-von Hemert (1994) suggested, just as women might experience social work programs that ignore female perspectives as discriminatory, religious believers might experience programs that ignore religious perspectives as discriminatory. Accordingly, I hypothesized that self-identified adherents of faith traditions would be more likely to report personally experiencing discrimination because of their religious beliefs than would secular respondents reporting no affiliation. The extant literature also suggests a second hypothesis. Commentators have noted that helping professionals disproportionately hold what have been referred to as nontheistic or liberal religious worldviews that are congruent with secular Enlightenment norms (Armstrong, 2000; Bergin & Jensen, 1990; Neumann, Thompson, & Woolley, 1992; Sahlein, 2002). Fewer than half of psychologists (Shafranske, 2001) and social work educators, practitioners, and students endorse the concept of a personal God, which is arguably the central precept of theism (Furman et al. …